Algorithms in the field of speaker recognition are concerned with achieving either the verification of a user or the identification of a user.
Verification of a user is achieved by matching a first canonical voice sample held in storage with a second provided voice sample. If the two samples are deemed to be a close match, then the close match suggests that the verification has succeeded. However, if the two samples are not a close match, then the lack of a close match suggests that the verification has failed. For verification of a user, a first stored sample is required and a second “live” sample must be given, at the time of verification, that closely replicates the content of the stored sample; that is, by the same words and/or sentence in the second “live” sample being recited in a similar manner to the first canonical voice sample which has been stored.
Identification of a user is achieved by matching one voice sample of a large number of voice samples held in storage with a single given voice sample. If (or when) a match is found between the single given voice sample and one of the large number of voice samples, then it can then be determined from that match the identity of the user that provided the sample to be matched against.